Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-06-04
FLIRTATIONS.

FLIRTATI0NS.
'.Do you intend to fiirt with him?"
This inquiry was from me. Cora was
brushing out her curly name before Mrs.
Ketcham's mahogany bureau.
s.Do I intend to fiirt with him?" she
repeated, smiling at her reflected image.
] knew that particular smile. ] had seen
it before. 1t drew up the left corner of
the mouth little. It brought out GER
tain expression in her eyes which was alb
solutely not to be mistaken. y.
''Oh, very well, observed. "But do
you think him worth while? He struck
me as rather insignificant
"My dearest, every man is worth while
when there's no better. But he is not
so very i'll looking. Anyway, beauty
counts for nothing in man. -
''No. It's just as well, 50 far as Mr..
Whitney is concerned, that it does not. ="
Cora had completed the brushing pro-
cess, had plated the hair into chubby
braid tied up at the end with q blue rib
bon, and now turned herself about medi-
tatively to look at me. Presently she re-
marked: a fs 4e6 sse
You are a, strange girl, Ellen
"Whyf' Iventured to ask.
''Oh, you miss things 7 She gave her
front hair dab with the brush. I'm
pressions- sensations.
'fFirtations, do you mean?' She gave a
shrug. as.. ttfa
"Well, if you choose to put it in that
4 L. -, LAT,
is. 1t brings out ones best resources. 1t
actually improves ones looks. know it
improves mine. never look SO well as
when I'm having Irritation" She re-
garded herself placidly three-quarter face
in the Ketcham looking glass.
Even with as unexhilarating a speci-
as Mr.. Whitney, eas
''Yes. If he is unexhilarating. Some
times, those plain looking, quiet, insig-
nifcant men have strange power OF fas-
cination. Oh, you needn't laugh.
II wouldn t dream of such thing.
am lost in admiration at your occult
knowledge" / declared. "A ~.
ssYou could have it, too, if you would
take an interest in the subject practice,
you know" .-.,.s
'.Oh, no, haven't the necessary quail
fications. / am not 81 and-ahem!-
lovely. am 20 and usually considered
plain. ss.5ts,y sl
'.Oh, looks have not really very much
|. to do with the matter, Cora was good
enough to say. Neither has age. It's
all in knowing how to manage. Besides.
I'm not 81. I'm nearly "a. But there's
no use telling such things. You could
pass for 90 if you chose lat least, :" with
the manner Of weighing the matter care
fully, II think you could. Z
'sOh, thank you," yawned. Sup
pose we put out the light now?" &
"Why, you're not sleepy, are your"
demanded Miss Weatherley in surprise.
at does seem strange. We've been
discussing such engrossing subjects, " |
/ replied. 81 { ~ 7e =
AS was falling aaleep heard a
muffied laugh. An astounding thought
had struck my companion.
.'Goodness! Ellen, what do you sup
pose would do If had to stop in this
stupid hole six weeks without any amrise-
ment at alp" she demanded.
''What do you expect to dor You did
not know there was any Mr.. Whitney,
. good looking or ill looking, celebrating
or unexhilaSating, when you came"
my dear, they are building a new
road near the Keteham homestead, are
they not? And when there are new
roads building there are usually engineers
to build them. There was sure to be
somebody ~ t4si ef
"Oh," exclaimed; and then there
was silence. gig &a s.gisti
TWAS understood that Cora Weatherley
had been sent to quiet place in order to
recruit from the effects of too much
social dissipation. She had, as it is ex-
pressed, s'run down. She herself, in
speaking of her debilitated condition, as
sured people that she had had complete
nervous prostration. Those who could
have seen her week after her arrival at
the Ketcham farm, playing tennis in the
June sun all the morning, driving down
in the neighborhood of the new road
every afternoon and sitting out in the
dampness every evening till old man
Ketcham came humping around from
the back regions, shutting up as he
went, might have been inclined either to
doubt this assertion or attribute it to the
air and milk and other salubrious proper
ties of the Ketcham acres curative posi-
bilities Of miraculous order.
Whenever looked up from my sketch
ing Cora was either just coming in from
somewhere or just going out. The spot
of color her red tennis hat made against
the environing greenness got to be q sort
of perambulating objective point in the
landscape. And it was usually not alone.
On most occasions it was accompanied
either by white straw hat or some kind
of soft cap with a visor, both Of which
pieces OF headgear covered the capital
extremity of slight, fair haired man Of
medium height. ssThis, then, ! would
say, returning to my water ,colers, lis
the Irritation" Well, if they both en-
joyed it land. to see them laughing and
talking and CHANGING at each other one
could not doubt that the degree Of pleas
urable stimulation they derived from the
exercise was hgh), and If Mr.. Whitney
could spare that much good time from
his work to devote to such occupation, ID
was probably all right. and assufedly no
concern of mine. -
One day az I sat at NV customary
window I'VE had been Mrs. Kstcham's
'city boarders' for some three weeks
Cora came in, and tossing her racket
against the first support she found for
it, drew chair near my table and sat
down. ..s .8ss
The silence that ensued caused me to
look up in surprise. Miss weatherley
was staring out at the trees.